


The Grand Proposal

by squire



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: And a murder of course, Angst, Comedy, ForceSkype, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Miscommunication, Misunderstandings, They both need a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 14:19:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17408498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squire/pseuds/squire
Summary: For the first time in his life, Kylo felt truly happy, cared for, loved. If that's what being in love felt like, he wanted to keep it.





	The Grand Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> Written originally on Twitter and slightly expanded since.

A year has passed since the battle of Crait. It's been a year of regrouping, rebuilding, consolidation. The gears of the war machine were turning smoothly now, the Resistance no more than an occasional grain of sand in the perfectly oiled mechanism. It was a year in which the First Order managed to cement its stand, spread its influence, and establish an unexpected balance between its two figureheads.

The relationship between Kylo Ren and Armitage Hux had lost a lot of its initial edge.

It had taken Kylo a while to really notice Hux but when he started, the rest came naturally. Grudging respect. Fascination. Attraction. Kylo wasn't expecting this development when he decided to keep the ambitious man alive and close but he didn't regret it. Quite the opposite, actually.

Hux had settled into the new reality with only a few hitches and as time went, most of his acerbic, contrite attitude transformed into a steady, reliable, genuinely challenging presence at Kylo's side. Kylo started to look forward to their conversations, enjoyed their parallel thinking, Hux's talent in coming up with new ideas. In the bedroom, too. Kylo didn't really have much basis for comparison but the sex felt amazing, and Hux was, even though a bit fussy, a man eager to please.

Over time, Kylo came to realise that Hux was not only his match and kindred spirit but also maybe the only one who saw him and accepted him for who he truly was, not for what he struggled to live up to. For the first time in his life, Kylo felt truly happy, cared for, loved. If that's what being in love felt like, he wanted to keep it.

The proposal he planned was nothing short of grand. His Grand Marshal deserved such a gesture after the less than ideal way he was promoted (a week after Crait, almost like an afterthought, more like a dare to see if Hux really had it in him, to command - and he did, oh how he did). The First Order would benefit from the celebration, too. To the last detail, it was everything Kylo ever dreamt about. It had to be perfect - a presentation of united leadership, a boost of morale for the masses, and a way to make Hux just as happy as Kylo was.

Rerouting the flow of resources to create a little side trickle hidden from Hux's attention was harder than Kylo expected. Nothing went past the Order's second in command. But Kylo managed, with help of few officers who fancied themselves to be on his good side. Soon he had all he needed.

A planet was chosen, remote enough to be safe from any Resistance surprise attacks and with a beautiful scenery. Hux's schedule was surreptitiously cleared. The ring alone had cost a fortune and getting it onboard without Hux's notice was a feat of counterintelligence Kylo was especially proud of.

Hux was unusually silent as he accompanied Kylo in the small shuttle planetside, for once not questioning the obvious excuse for their presence. His face betrayed no surprise when he entered the beautiful bungalow, his non-committal reservation didn’t break as he walked through it, coming to a halt on the sunny balcony overlooking a lake, almost the exact replica of the one on Naboo Kylo researched so thoroughly.

Then his stony expression finally broke but his face was not one of delight. It was a bitter sneer.    
  
"Well. This is nicer than I expected."

"... Expected?" Kylo cursed himself. Of course nothing went past Hux, Kylo was useless at subterfuge, but at least he hoped Hux would’ve been impressed...   
  
Hux laughed. It was a brittle, ugly sound Kylo hadn't heard in over a year.    
  
"Did you think I wouldn't notice you taking over behind my back, Supreme Leader? Allying with my competitors? Taking away my responsibilities?"   
  
Kylo gaped.  _ That _ was what his preparations looked like from the outside? Hux swept over the beautiful natural scenery, plush chairs on the balcony and the expensive bottle in the cooler with a derisive look.

"Honestly, I expected a public execution but I guess you're too much of a coward for that."   
  
Kylo didn’t understand. "What- why would I- why would you think-"   
  
"Oh, did you expect thanks? Well, thank you for your generosity providing for my exile!"

Kylo took a confused step forward and brought his hands up to calm- he froze. A dagger flashed into Hux's hand, quick like a viper. Kylo thought Hux had ceased carrying that months ago.    
  
"Hux- Hux, stop. This isn't - I didn't-" Kylo halted, drawing a deep breath. "I don't want to banish you. I want to-"

"Kill me?" Hux taunted at the same time as Kylo finished: "... marry you."   
  
Hux's fingers spasmed around the hilt. Kylo waited for the relieved sigh, for Hux’s face to clear, for the clatter of steel against floor - but suddenly the dagger was flying towards his head and only his reflexes deflected it, the blade harmlessly hitting the arch behind his shoulder.

"Hux?!"   
  
"Screw you!" Hux was livid. Frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal. As if a year of calm suddenly exploded into this bizarre moment of boiling rage. Kylo couldn’t even recognise his Grand Marshal.    
  
"I'd prefer exile over such a humiliation! But of course you wouldn't stop at anything, you'd take away the last shred of my-"

"Humiliation?" Kylo shouted over the nonsense. "You'll be my husband, my co-ruler, my-"   
  
"Your trophy." Hux crumbled against the balcony railing, hands jerking towards his throat in defensive gesture. It broke Kylo's heart when he remembered why. It had been a year. Hux never forgot.

"You took everything I worked towards for years." Hux babbled, tears streaming down his face. "My leadership, my loyalty to the Order... my accomplishments, my free time, everything. And now you want the last vestige of freedom I've left, the last ounce of respect from my men..."

The words echoed in Kylo's head, his vision swimming.    
  
"I thought you liked us working together."   
  
"I didn't have a choice. You hardly left me out of your sight for the fear I'd scheme against you."   
  
" _ You _ came into  _ my _ bed!"   
  
"I've done worse to stay alive, Supreme Leader."

The words hit Kylo like a heavy stone. He felt tears springing into his eyes, hot and stingy, washing away the rosy tint he used to look at the world with for the past few months. It wasn’t real. Nothing of Hux’s affections was real.     
  
Hux was broken, broken too many times to fit back together correctly, a fractured shell held together by dreams of power and delusions about his birthright. What Brendol started, Kylo finished that day above Crait. Hux didn’t love him, never had.

 

*

 

Hux expected a crushing grip of an invisible hand around his neck, his dagger unsticking itself from the wall and slicing into his flesh- but nothing happened. After a few seconds of silence he dared to look up.

Kylo Ren just stood there looking as if something inside him broke. Well, he always looked as if someone broke him, repeatedly, ever since he was a child. Hux remembered the last time he saw that look on his face. That anger and loss like two halves that didn’t quite match together, madness shining through the cracks. It was right after Kylo woke up in the throne room at the Supremacy, surrounded by disaster. And now, again.

Hux bit his lip and counted his breaths to calm down. His chest squeezed with cold fear when he mentally replayed the last few minutes. This wasn’t good. He panicked and showed his own hand completely. Now Ren lost the only reason to keep him alive...    
  
"The pantry is stocked for a week." Ren waved abruptly, his hand trembling, indicating the house. Hux blinked at the inconsequentiality of it but Ren kept talking.

"That's how long I set aside for... us." He shook his head, the last word almost too quiet to be heard. And then he lifted his head, the tremble gone, voice again deep and authoritative.     
  
"You have a shore leave due, use it. I expect you to resume your duties in a week's time."   
  
And then he was walking away, heavy strides echoing on the marble floor, the crunch of gravel on the landing strip, then the roar of engines - and then he was gone.

Hux was left with the sun beating down on his sweat-through back, the gentle splashing of waves and birdsong in his ears, and no bloody idea why he was still alive. 

 

*

 

Hux didn’t expect the shuttle coming down to pick him up after the week was over. But it did, and nothing seemed amiss. The pilot still greeted him like a superior officer. The troopers still obeyed him without question. His code cylinders and access rights hadn't been changed. His quarters were still on the command level.

Of course, then the evening came and with it no usual summons to Ren’s quarters. They used to go over the day’s worth of reports together, draw strategies for the future, have a drink. Fall into bed together or have each other right there on the desk, whatever they felt like that night. Sometimes it didn’t even come to sex - sometimes Hux was too tired or Ren too moody and they ended up waking the next day still in yesterday’s clothes, slumped against each other on the sofa, datapads scattered around their feet and a blanket that wasn’t there the night before wrapped around them both.

Hux contemplated just showing up by himself, uninvited. So he didn’t want to marry Ren, why couldn’t he keep fucking him? But as he stepped out of his door, something new immediately caught his attention. An ID9 unit hovered in the corner of the corridor by Hux’s door, red light returning Hux’s questioning gaze with unblinking insolence. It wouldn’t obey his override. Hux returned to his quarters.

The seeker droid kept hovering at the back of the room during meetings and followed Hux on his rounds the next day and the next, whirring quietly and watching. Always watching. Recording everything.

Hux knew what it meant. Ren might not want to keep him close anymore but that didn’t mean he trusted him. Especially not after what went down in that house. Hux shuddered when he recalled that lavish opulence, those many comforts. Did Ren really think he could bribe Hux into loving him?

_ As if he had to. _ .. Hux told himself to stop. That train of thought didn’t deserve following. He forbade himself to entertain such weakness. Hux only stayed alive because Ren had use for him, and Hux would do best to remember it. That's what hurt the most about that wretched proposal - that for Ren, it was just a scheme. The last straw to break Hux's back, to showcase the proof of Hux's humble allegiance on his ring finger. Ren would not care for Hux's feelings. Hux was a fool to have them at all. For Ren? For a man who would kill him one day, as easily as he breathed?

Hux drew his blaster after one day of terrible headache and shot the damned droid down. Another took its place the next morning.    
  
But those ominous little fuckers didn’t follow him into his quarters, which only meant they were most likely bugged. Out of spite, Hux rerouted the feed from Ren's rooms to his own pad and didn’t even try to cover his tracks. Let Ren have a taste of his own medicine. Even though Hux knew he should have been better than watching it in his own room, alone at night. Waiting to be cut off, yelled at. Anything.

But for same reason, Ren didn’t do anything about it. Maybe he really didn’t care. The feed stayed on Hux's screen. Hour after hour of Ren meditating, eating, staring at the wall. Alone as well.    
  
Until one evening, the pattern broke.    
  
Ren was on his way from the 'fresher to his bed. His wet hair curled slightly at the ends and left droplets of water on his soft black robe - a gift from Hux from their early days. Hux scoffed at himself, they had early days? Suddenly Ren stopped and turned his gaze into a wall.

He looked surprised. His lips were moving. Hux flipped through all the camera angles but there was no visitor, nobody else but Ren in his rooms, and there was no terminal mounted to the wall Ren was facing. It was just a blank wall and Ren was talking to it.    
  
Hux ramped up the audio to maximum.

"You do have a knack for showing up in my time of misery," Ren was saying. For a second Hux thought Ren was addressing him - but Ren's eyes were focused into a middle distance, and his expression was... amused?   
  
A pause, as if he was listening to a reply.   
  
"Maybe I was just happy."

This had to be some Force wizardry, Hux concluded for lack of a reasonable explanation. Ren must have been talking to someone using the Force. And currently rolling his eyes at them.    
  
"I don't enjoy ruling. Just - happy with my life for a change. I don't know why I'm seeing you, either."

And then, to Hux's increasing bewilderment, Ren laughed. Ducked his head. Touched the hem around the collar of his robe and rubbed the pleat between his fingers.    
  
"An improvement since last time, I agree. It was a gift."   
  
His voice turned soft and quiet at the last words.Hux didn’t know what to make of that sentiment but as soon as it came it was gone, Ren's eyes flashing up and wincing at something only he heard.    
  
"Don't let hope fool you," he said, sharp and derisive. "It turned out it was just a calculation, like everything else."

Taken aback by the bitterness, Hux wondered when was the last time Ren was given something for the sake of it. Not an appeasement, not a bribe, not a tool... But Ren was talking again.   
  
"You look... well." The corner of his lips turned up. Mischievous. "Not exactly the Jedi attire."

Hux very nearly dropped the datapad. Jedi? Ren was chatting with, wait, fucking  _ crying on the shoulder _ of the Jedi girl, the hero of the Resistance? Hux's hand shot for the intercom, ready to call security. But the next words stopped him.   
  
"Is  _ everyone _ getting married these days?"

The jealous hurt in Ren's voice stung unexpectedly but before he had a chance to parse his reaction, Ren took a step back. It looked involuntary. It looked as if that girl, wherever she was, was yelling at him over the Force.    
  
"You're right," Ren blurted out. "I deserve to be alone."

This was so wrong, so against all Hux ever knew about the man. Ren was bratty, impulsive, blind to everything but his precious legacy, he took and destroyed and didn't care for anything crushed in his path, he was a-   
  
"Not even monsters?" Ren took the word from Hux's mouth.

Hux regretted he couldn't hear the answer. Did monsters like Ren - like himself - deserve to be alone? But Ren was already replying to something else.   
  
"I thought I wasn’t. But the second worst after me was so afraid of me he would pretend to love me just so I wouldn’t kill him."

Pretend? Hux nearly yelled at the screen.  _ I loved you, _ he thought,  _ and you never cared, you just accepted all the nice things I did for you like your due, and that’s when I knew I couldn't ever let you know, you'd just take it and break me- _ _   
_   
"Perhaps this was the one thing I didn't want to just take," Ren said, oblivious to how painfully perfectly he replied to Hux’s own thoughts. What he really meant probably couldn’t be farther from this. Whatever they discussed, the young Jedi and the  __ traitor Ren, Hux could only hear a half of it.

A long moment of silence followed, at least in Ren’s room. Then at last, Ren lifted his head. He looked... unsure. Curious.   
  
"This will sound strange but... why? You. Marriage. All that. It's not the Jedi way."

It seemed that the reply was giving Ren some thought. He cocked his head, considering.    
  
"I never really thought on what will my life be like when the war is over. Maybe my lack of visions mean I won’t live to see that."   
  
Only a year ago, such prospect would fill Hux with joy.

The pauses grew longer. Ren listened intently.    
  
"And all legends will be forgotten. I know," he sighed at last. And then he abruptly swayed on his feet, eyes flicking around, face falling with disappointment - the connection had been severed.

Hux clicked out of the security feed and tried to make sense of it all. 

  
  
*

 

Kylo studiously ignored the pointed, unshifting gaze of Hux from the opposite end of the table. High command meetings were hardly bearable on a good day. The faces lining his periphery vision were so old, he couldn’t imagine himself ever seeing eye to eye with any of them.    
  
Kylo wondered how many of those old officers would have remembered his mother.

They wouldn’t make the connection, but they must have fought her while she commanded the Rebellion. Hells, some of them might even have met her in the Senate.    
  
Kylo wondered if Leia hated politics as much as he did.    
  
"One more thing, Supreme Leader..."

It was General Callens, one of those privy to Kylo's plans. He was grinning, a sleazy, subservient smile that made Kylo's stomach turn.    
  
"I understand that congratulations are in order. Should we begin make plans for your nuptials?"   
  
Kylo was fairly sure Hux had stopped breathing.

"General, that's a sound idea," Kylo allowed, just for the satisfaction in watching Hux turn white as a sheet.    
  
"But it would seem I lack a groom."   
  
As one man, they kept their gaze on their Supreme Leader. Not a head turned, a commendation to their conditioning. Kylo could see in their eyes how desperately curious they were to look at Hux.

"But it would be unwise to let all those preparations be for naught," Kylo continued.    
  
"What do you mean, Supreme Leader?" one of the eldest Marshals asked, cautiously. The man was never in his life anything else than cautious. He didn’t get his rank through valour, he simply outlived everyone else.   
  
"I think it will be good for boosting the population’s morale. Show the citizens that I have compassion for their daily life. That I value the same ordinary values. Stability. Continuity."    
  
Some of the old Imperials were already nodding along. Callens still wasn’t convinced.    
  
"But... if there's no groom-"   
  
"I trust you'll find me one."

The squeaky sound was most certainly Hux's chair legs across the floor but everyone was too stunned to pay attention to him.   
  
"My only requirements are that they're of appropriate age and willing to marry me. I also expect an equal level of commitment to the good of the First Order."

He took his leave, ignoring the heated debate that immediately broke out. This should give them enough water for their mills for a foreseeable future.    
  
"Supreme Leader? A word, please."   
  
Hux had followed him into the corridor. His face was drawn and ghastly, breath coming fast.

"What are you doing? What do you hope to gain by this?"   
  
Kylo let the insubordination slide. It felt good, familiar, like those days where Hux would talk back, insult him, kiss him...   
  
"Consolidation," he said instead. "This will make them trust me more."

Hux’s eyes flicked in a quick thought. “You’re giving them an illusion of control over you...” he said slowly, begrudgingly impressed. Then his face hardened again.

“But why like this. You could redelegate - establish a council - whatever. Why a marriage? Cut the bantha shit about the good of the Order, what do  _ you _ get out of that?”

Ren felt a fresh stab of regret. Hux could follow his every plan - and didn’t understand his single motivation. Hux knew him so well and trusted him so little.

“Maybe I just don’t want to die alone.”

Hux’s face was doing something strange. “You want to get a…  _ partner _ , out of an arranged marriage?”

“Who knows?” Ren countered. “After all, I’ve learned to… admire and appreciate you, maybe I will learn to see the best in the one I’m left with.”

Hux pointed back. His arm flailed a little too wild. "They will try to saddle you with one of their own children. Or with our wealthiest benefactor."   
  
"And is that so bad?"   
  
Hux seemed to chew on the words a moment before spitting them out: "Whoever will be chosen, they won't love you."   
  
"But they won't hate me either."

Kylo could see the protest rise to Hux's lips - and die there. Because Hux hated him, he would be fool to try and deny it. For the injustice, for the careless violence... he hated. Kylo hated a little too, now, for still wanting what he couldn’t have.   
  
"Grand Marshal, you're dismissed."

 

*

 

_ I don’t- _ Hux stopped himself just in time. Ren was too reckless for anyone not to hate him. But Hux also loved him, because he wasn’t a fucking protocol droid, he was perfectly able to have more than one emotion at a time-

\- but before he could say as much, the corridor was already empty.

So Ren had, how did he put it?  _ Learned  _ to appreciate Hux. At least he was honest enough not to rave about always loving him. No, it had to happen some time during the past year that Ren had fallen in love with Hux, like a duckling imprinting on the first person to show him some kindness-

Hux put his head in his hands. Grabbed the strands of hair that fell into his eyes and pulled.

Why the fuck had Ren never said anything?

Idiot, Hux told himself. When had Ren ever  _ talked _ about anything? He just went and proposed, poured his heart into it and planned every luxury Hux could have imagined - just to get a dagger flying into his face for his efforts.

This was a mess. The seeker droid above him whirred in agreement. 

 

*

 

The days to the appointed wedding date passed much faster than Kylo expected. The high command played along with his rules - they knew he'd have had their heads if the candidate wouldn't be up to his requirements. In return, he had no wish to see his future spouse before the ceremony.

It would be the sensible thing to do - but he knew he couldn’t. He knew he would have been tempted to call it off at the last moment. Better not to face anything that would remind him how much this was removed from what he envisioned only a month ago.

In the morning of the day of he put on his usual attire, down to the worn boots, still singed from the crackling blades of the Praetorian guards, that day he'd killed Snoke. A shipment of festive robes arrived by a droid delivery, based on an order he placed a month ago. He threw them into the garbage chute.

On his way to the grand hall, just as he was passing an opening to a corridor leading to the command shuttle bays, he nearly tripped over something shiny and still smoking - the remnants of a seeker droid. Quick scan through the security confirmed his suspicion: Hux was nowhere to be found. Maybe he finally chose exile now when the others didn’t fear him anymore.

The lighting in the hall almost blinded him after the gloom of the corridor, bringing water to his eyes. Kylo barely registered the rows of the officer hats. A single figure stood at the end of the walkway and little to the side, stark like a cut out from the reality. They wore the simple black cape Ren had sent them in advance, to match his own and to send a clear message: they weren’t marrying the might of the First Order. They were marrying just Ren.

The hood and the flowing material obscured much of their body shape. Ren walked over to them without sparing them another glance. He would have enough time to get acquainted with his spouse later, without the entire command staff witnessing his awkwardness.

The ceremony itself was the simplest Kylo could find. They would step forward, get asked a question, confirm it, and walk out of here hand in hand. He specifically didn't want a kiss. He knew he couldn’t stay celibate till death but right now a kiss would taste too much like salt, shipped straight from Crait and rubbed into his bleeding heart.

He had to force himself to breathe, to go through with this. Whoever stood there, they could never equal Hux’s brilliance but maybe they weren’t entirely insipid. Maybe they would at least keep him on his toes, alert, ready for the taste of poison in his food. Love was overrated. His mother married his father for love, and how did that end?   
  
He extended his hand. The one grasping it was smaller, slender, ungloved - and with a faint smattering of freckles around the knuckles.

The room froze. It’s taken Ren a few seconds to realise it wasn’t a metaphor - he literally put everyone else into stasis, all his awareness narrowing to a single point. A single face.   
  
"I had three conditions," he said when he was sure he could trust his voice.

Hux pulled off the hood, smoothing back his hair one-handed. His right hand didn’t leave Ren's.   
  
"I am only a little older than you, and I am far more than your equal when it comes to the loyalty to the Order."   
  
"And the last one?" Kylo knew he was desperate. He didn’t care.

"Kylo, I am standing right here. Do you need it spelled out?"   
  
"Yes," Kylo nearly shouted. He wanted to hear it. He wanted it on tape, broadcasted to all the Galaxy. "Hux, you must want this too."   
  
Hux lifted his chin. "I do."

Kylo forgot he didn't want a kiss. But his bliss lasted only a second before...    
  
"Could you unfreeze them? Some of them are turning blue."   
  
Oh, right. That wouldn't be a good start of their honeymoon.   
  
"You should also know there's a fresh body in the anteroom."   
  
So much for that.

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> For more kylux cracky angst, follow me on [Twitter :) ](https://twitter.com/B_squire_C)


End file.
